Cross stitch is not the hippest hobby these days, and if you’re an Irish cross stitcher, you can sometimes feel like you’re the only one! While there are several great UK cross stitch magazines, fewer and fewer shops in Dublin stock any of them. On my own beat, the only stockists I know of are the Eason branches in O’Connell Street and Dundrum (often quite an impressive selection considering the size of the store there), Reads of Nassau Street (just inside the door, quite hit and miss) and a newsagent in the Blackrock Shopping Centre.

But all is not lost! Gaynor has set up a Yahoo! Group for cross stitchers in Ireland called Emerald Isle Cross Stitchers. It is just getting going at the moment, but already I have found out about a cheap online Australian cross stitch magazine, The Gift of Stitching, and great lightweight frames from the US called Q-snaps. So if you are in Ireland, and into cross stitch in any way, pop along and join the group – the more the merrier!

I went to see the new Batman film, The Dark Knight, at Movies@Dundrum yesterday. Surprisingly, it lived up to the hype. I thought it was great, perhaps a bit long, but that’s a minor quibble. I’m not usually into these sorts of films, but I caught Batman Begins on the TV a few weeks ago and was pleasantly surprised. I preferred the way that there was more of a storyline in Batman Begins, but overall The Dark Knight is far superior. That’s mainly due to the Joker. Yes I know that everyone is saying it (although a BBC entertainment correspondent disagrees), but Heath Ledger makes the film. His portrayal of the Joker is one of the best character performances I’ve seen, right down to the little gestures like his odd lip licking habit. My favourite scenes both involved the Joker – one near the start involving a pencil, and the other when he visits the hospital. I won’t fill in the details in case I spoil the fun.

I know I slagged off the Movies at Dundrum cinema website a couple of years back, but sadly it still leaves a lot to be desired. However, I must commend them for keeping it up to date and topical, which is more than can be said for this blog. They have even gone all out and created a special Batman theme for the site. The only trouble is that the crude, madcap graffiti that pays homage to the Joker is so authentic, that some people got the impression that the site had been hacked. So, they had to add a message to the top of each page a few days back explaining that “This is a promotion for “THE DARK KNIGHT”, our website has not been hacked and is completely secure. Your Credit Card details are safe as always and we assure you the Joker will not steal your number”. Oh dear! Step away from Microsoft Paint lads, or whatever graphics program helped you create this:

The Big Word Project is the brainchild of two enterprising postgrad students in Belfast. You buy a word for a dollar a letter. There’s a lot of words in a dictionary, so they could get rich very quickly if this takes off. They were interviewed at Wired recently and it seems to be going well so far.

As usual, I’m raging that I didn’t think up this get rich quick scheme myself. It’s a gimmick but I love the idea and I dare you to resist buying a word! It’s impossible not to click on a couple of words just to see where you end up. Then you try out a few searches just to see if a word that means something special to you is still available. Then, you find one that is, and silly though it may be, it’s just so cheap to claim your very own word that you’re sold there and then. Genius.

A lot of web dev monkeys got in there before us, so the best I could get was "coders" but since our work site is tidy.ie we had to splurge $4 on "tidy" as well. It has great gift potential too: I couldn’t resist buying "foxy" for my sister, and my boyfriend suggested buying "couple" for us. Aw, who said romance was dead?

My fox-phobic sister tagged me 21 days ago to do the 6 random things meme. I can’t take another sleepless night of wondering what dreadful curse will befall me if I don’t do it, so here goes:

1. I’m a big fan of ice cream, even though I hate anything creamy. Hence, while normal people take a tub out of the freezer and let it melt a while before eating, I’m straight in there hacking away while my fingers get frostbite, and won’t touch it once it goes runny. My favourite flavour at the moment is Häagen Dazs Raspberry and Meringue. I know it’s limited edition, but I’m finding it nigh impossible to feed my habit around Dublin 6. No matter, for tonight I tried Murphy’s Raspberry Sorbet and discovered that’s the bit I really like. Half the calories and it’s available around the corner in Fothergills – this could get expensive.
2. I tend to use a lot of words. I meant this to be a short post with 6 one-liners and point 1 was practically an essay! I may have come close to breaking the record for the longest ever e-mail in the past, but I’m in recovery these days.
3. I don’t watch many TV shows religiously, but ER is one exception. Why, I don’t know, because it has really gone downhill since the glory days of Greene and Carter. Somehow, despite the episode each season when there is yet another boring hostage at gunpoint scenario, the pointless episodes where nothing happens, and the low, fast mumbling when you haven’t a clue who said what, I keep watching. I’ll miss it when it finally ends after the next series. Last night’s season finale on RTE ended on a typical cliff hanger where several cast members could have died when an ambulance exploded. Knowing ER, the next series will probably start with all of them in the middle of a trauma as if nothing ever happened!
4. I am absolutely rubbish at all sports. Getting the Wii Fit has confirmed that I have next to no balance and co-ordination, so that’s my excuse. If I could be good at any sport, I’d love to be a snooker player. While this year’s world championship final was a bit of a let down, you just can’t beat a bit (or even 35 frames) of snooker.
5. I can’t drive and I may never learn. Until the Wii Fit seriously improves my co-ordination, It’s probably a good idea for me to stay off the road!
6. I have all 465 standard DMC thread colours used for cross-stitch embroidery. That’s 11 km of thread altogether. I’m not sure I’ll ever get through it all. Maybe by the time I’m old and grey, still stitching in my pink rocking chair, cross stitch will finally be cool?

Given that I am probably the only blogger (that’s if monthly posting constitutes blogging!) on earth who has not done this meme already, I don’t think there’s any need to tag anybody else…